


Going Up

by yutlunglovebot



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Pining Ash Lynx
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 11:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30105426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yutlunglovebot/pseuds/yutlunglovebot
Summary: Our trio get stuck in an elevator.Featuring Best wingman Shorter Wong, Subtle flirt Okumura Eiji, and Ash Lynx's ideal partner list.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 17
Kudos: 118





	Going Up

Ash had no fucking clue why Max insisted on him meeting him at his office - for lunch, no less. He had much better things to be doing, like literally _anything_ else and yet here he was, stalking down the bustling street to Max’s work, Shorter excitedly following him.  
  
“I’ve never been to such a fancy building before!” Shorter had exclaimed when Ash had begrudgingly told him why he suddenly peeled himself off the sofa and had drawn their gaming session to an abrupt halt. “Well, legally at least.”  
  
So Shorter had tagged along because Ash had no energy to try and argue with him. Arguing with Shorter could be like talking to a brick wall sometimes - the stubborn bastard. But, honestly, it wasn’t too bad. Fun shit tended to happen when Shorter was around and if he wanted to liven up his lunch inside the Journalists office then who was he to complain?  
  
The building wasn’t even that fancy in comparison to some of the architecture in New York. It was just really fucking tall, like most buildings in the City, and the only detailing seemed to be an ungodly amount of windows and a large sign displaying the companies’ name. Other than that it was basically a massive cuboid - nothing miraculous. The Public Library was far fancier, although Ash was almost certain Shorter hadn’t set foot in that building once.  
  
“What floors the old man on?” Shorter asked when they finally made it to the sliding doors at the entrance. The reception area was busy with clients and staff, either milling around and chatting or practically sprinting through the room carrying piles of paper in a harried rush. It was almost exactly like those crappy 80s films inside publishing buildings, all that was missing was a heavy layer of cigarette smoke to permeate their lungs.  
  
“18th” Ash replied easily as they swerved through the people towards the elevators. For once, Ash was happy for the crowd. It meant he could keep his head down and hood up and not be stopped by the receptionist asking what he was doing with a questioning eyebrow as they took in his state of dress (it was usually the ripped jeans that pissed them off) or pulled into a conversation by one of Max’s colleagues who always, without fail, referred to him as Max’s son.  
  
Shorter’s purple mohawk and excitable demeanour turned a couple heads, but Ash managed to usher him through the room before those curious glances turned into curious questions.  
  
When they finally reached the elevator, Ash hit the button immediately. Once, then twice, then three, four, five times. He was getting agitated as the number above the elevator was descending too slow for his liking - Ash was never known the be a patient person.  
  
“Dude, pushing the button ain’t gonna make it come any faster,” Shorter criticised, amused. Ash merely scowled, pressing the button again and again just to go against his friends words. Shorter huffed out a laugh at his antics, running his fingers through his hair as he shifted from one foot to the other, clearly as impatient as Ash was too.  
  
Fucking finally, the elevator chimed, indicating it was at their floor and, when the doors slid open, it was beautifully empty. Ash let out a pleased breath and practically stumbled his way into the lift, happy to finally be out of the hustle and bustle of the reception area. He pressed the button for the 18th floor just as many times as he had before the second Shorter entered the lift, muttering a “c’mon” under his breath over and over in hopes of the doors shutting before someone else managed to squeeze their way in.  
  
“Wait!” a voice called, accompanied by the tell-tale sound of shoes hitting the ceramic floor at high speeds. Before Ash could stop him, Shorter was wedging a hand and foot in between the slowly shutting doors, halting its movements. Ash let out an annoyed noise that most definitely wasn’t a whine and had to physically stop himself from stomping his foot against the carpet.  
  
“We could’ve just ignored them,” Ash complained in a harsh whisper, but Shorter merely shot him an unhappy look over his shoulder.  
  
“Don’t be mean, Lynx,” He teased, and Ash barely managed to flash him his middle finger before the person flung themselves into the elevator with them.  
  
“Oh, thank you so much!” They said immediately, smiling up at Shorter, and Ash noticed the slight accent in their voice.  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Shorter replied easily, finally removing himself from between the doors.  
  
With another polite smile, the person - boy? they looked like a boy - stepped forward and delicately pressed one of the floor buttons (He was also headed for floor 18, Ash noticed) before he settled back against one of the railings in the elevator.  
  
Finally the doors closed, and they started their slow ascent upwards, and Ash was fully intending of only glancing towards the boy to see what he looked like properly, but it was as if his whole body ground to a halt the second he settled his eyes on him.  
  
For the first time since Ash had started his literature degree, he actually felt like waxing poetry. His muse? the man before him. He was so fucking _pretty._ Ash couldn’t think of another way to describe him really, maybe beautiful would be more accurate, stunning even, _ethereal_. No word seemed to fully encapsulate how gorgeous this man truly was.  
  
He was slightly shorter and less broad than Ash himself and the thought made him want to wrap his arms around the man and tuck him under his chin. His eyes were large and round, the colour of melted chocolate, a swirl of caramel weaving through it, framed by thick, long lashes. So long Ash wouldn’t be surprised if they brushed his eyebrows when he looked up. He had a lip between his teeth, just slightly, and maybe it was something he did naturally without realising it, but it made Ash’s knees weak. His skin was tanned, a toffee colour and Ash wondered briefly if it would taste as sweet (he managed to catch himself before his thoughts wandered into dangerous places because, _honestly_ he’d looked at this man for maybe a minute tops, he wasn’t that desperate). Atop his head sat a mess of black strands ranging from curly to wavy, and although it looked more coarse than soft, Ash wanted nothing more to run his hands through it, to see the way his pale fingers would contrast so nicely with the obsidian locks.  
  
His eyes were starting to sting from the blatant staring, and he blinked with an embarrassed cough before looking down and away. Luckily, the man didn’t seem to notice, his eyes trained on watching the floor numbers slowly rise, his teeth still sunken into his lips, but Shorter definitely did.  
  
With a rub at the nape of his neck, Ash finally raised his eyes to see Shorter smirking at him.  
  
“What?” Ash mouthed around a scowl. He already knew what Shorter was thinking and he hated it. They’d gotten horrifically drunk one night and had ranted passionately about their ideal partners. Looks wise, this man seemed to tick all of the boxes.  
  
“He’s cute,” Shorter mouthed back, eyes flicking from the oblivious boy and back to Ash, smirk somehow widening. The man looked feral, Ash thought. Ash had somehow befriended a feral beast.  
  
“So, what’s your name?” Shorter asked the boy just as the floor climbed up to ‘9’. Shorter shot Ash a look as if to say, ‘I’m doing this for you’ and Ash immediately amended his statement from before. He’d befriended a feral, meddling beast.  
  
The boy startled, clearly too entranced in the ascending numbers, and finally released his lip from its place trapped behind his teeth. Ash felt himself relax at the notion, but tense immediately back up again as he took in how the flesh had reddened and turned glassy looking with spit. God this man was gonna be the death of him.  
  
“Who, me?” He asked, looking between Shorter and Ash, to which Shorter nodded encouragingly. “Oh, it’s Eiji.” _Eiji_ Ash thought to himself, what a nice sounding name.  
  
“Oh, nice! Foreign right?” Shorter commented, not unkindly, but the boy seemed to withdraw in on himself.  
  
“Yes, I’m Japanese,” He replied softly, averting his gaze. “Sorry if my English isn’t very good.”  
  
“Oh, dude no!” Shorter reassured, waving his hands in front of him. “Your English is fuckin’ perfect!” Eiji visibly relaxed at that, shooting Shorter an appreciative smile. Bitterly, Ash thought about how he wanted Eiji to send a smile his way. Shorter had already received, what, three already? Three smiles in barely five minutes and Ash had yet to receive even one. God clearly has favourites.  
  
Eiji was opening his mouth to speak once more when the whole elevator seemed to clang and clunk around them before stopping completely mere seconds later. Eiji clasped the metal railing behind him and glanced around, confused. The numbers he was watching ascend before seemed to get stuck between 12 and 13, the 2 and 3 amalgamating to become some kind of mutant number. Ash couldn’t even stop the annoyed groan he let out, head falling back as he looked up at the elevator ceiling.  
  
“Give me strength,” He mumbled, before lolling his head forward once more. Eiji was looking at him, mouth agape slightly, but a blink later he was looking back at the weird number that continued to flash obnoxiously. Confused, he turned back to Shorter to see him already holding down the emergency button, waiting for someone to pick up.  
  
“Hello?” A voice crackled through the speaker, probably the receptionist Ash reasoned.  
  
“Hi, yeah, we’re kinda stuck in the elevator?” Shorter said, voice tilting as if it was a question.  
  
“Which floor?” The voice was monotone as if this were a daily occurrence (and it probably was considering how old the elevators looked) and Ash heard the tell-tale sign of a book being opened and the click of a ball point pen.  
  
“Uh,” Shorter began, dragging out the syllable as he looked up towards the flashing numbers. “Between floor 12 and 13.”   
  
“Which lift?” A scribble of pen against paper sounded.  
  
Shorter paused, looking over at Ash in question. Ash shrugged “The first one?”  
  
A sigh, more scribbles. “Sounds about right,” The person mumbled more to themselves. “Okay, we’ll get someone out to help in a few, press the button if it starts making any noises.”  
  
“How long will it be?” Shorter began, but the person had hung up before he’d even finished his sentence. Ash slid to the floor, back against the back wall of the elevator. To his left, Eiji followed his lead.  
  
“This fuckin’ sucks,” Ash said as he let his legs spread out in front of him. Eiji’s shoe clad feet almost reached the middle of Ash’s calf as he did the same, and Ash had to fight back a smile at the thought of Eiji’s legs being shorter than his own. “I was actually getting hungry.” As if to punctuate his statement, his stomach let out an obnoxious growl. He merely threw an arm over his midriff and let out another groan.  
  
“You came here for lunch?” Eiji asked, and Ash revelled in the fact he was finally turning his attention towards him before he acknowledged the question.  
  
“Yeah, meeting the old man for lunch,” Ash replied easily, cringing when he referred to Max as his “old man”. Max may be his foster parent, but he’d rather be dead than give him the satisfaction of calling him “dad” seriously.  
  
“That’s nice!” Eiji exclaimed, and from anyone else it would’ve sounded sarcastic, but Eiji seemed to speak so honestly and genuine. Yet more boxes were ticked off of Ash’s list of an ideal partner. “I’m supposed to be meeting with my boss to go over the pictures I edited for him but looks like I’ll probably be late now.”  
  
“He’ll understand, Eiji,” Ash said softly, reassuringly as Eiji wound his fingers into the hem of his jumper. From the corner of his eye he saw Shorter’s eyes widen (well, his eyebrows rose in the way they did when his eyes widened. It was all Ash could see considering Shorter was still wearing his sunglasses) at the tone of his voice. Ash never spoke softly, especially not to boys he’d just met. But maybe he could make an exception for boys who were so ridiculously pretty it made Ash question whether he was real or just a hallucination from his hungry mind.  
  
Eiji hummed in acknowledgment, clearly still anxious about the reprimanding he’d receive for being late if his fidgeting hands were anything to go by, but then he looked up and shot Ash a small smile (take that, Shorter).  
  
“So what are your guy’s names?” He asked politely and, despite addressing both him and Shorter, he only smiled at Ash. Ash felt himself preen at the attention.  
  
“I’m Ash,” He replied immediately. “And that idiot over there is Shorter.” He introduced his friend himself, wanting to keep Eiji’s attention on himself for as long as possible.  
  
“Oh, you’re friends?” Eiji asked with an adorable tilt of his head, just as Shorter yelled a “hey!” in protest.  
  
“Sadly,” Ash responded, but he was grinning. Eiji was grinning too, clearly understanding the joke, and Ash was already addicted to the way the skin around his eyes crinkled and dimples formed on the soft mounds of his cheeks.  
  
“Shut the fuck up, you love being my friend,” Shorter sighed out as he joined them on the floor. Ash saw how their shoes seemed to clash completely, Eiji with his brown loafers, Ash with dirty red converse, and Shorter with his pristine Nike’s (it was the only clothing item Shorter ever kept pristine, really).  
  
“So, Eiji,” Shorter started, and by the way Shorter elongated the name, Ash knew he was going to ask something really fucking stupid. Ash took in a breath to prepare for the inevitable. “Do you like men?”  
  
Ash let out the breath he’d been holding through a choke, spluttering as Eiji flushed a deep red beside him.  
  
“Shorter, what the fuck?” Ash exclaimed once his choking had calmed down enough to speak. Eiji was giggling nervously, still blushing a beautiful rosy colour that had Ash almost forgetting the reason as to why.  
  
“What?” Shorter questioned as if he hadn’t just asked a man he met 10 minutes ago an extremely invasive question. “ We’re gonna be here a while, might as well get to know each other. And don’t worry, Eiji.” Shorter turned to Eiji, tapping his calf in reassurance. “We’re not gonna judge, Ash here is bi.” Shorter shot Ash a look, wiggling his eyebrows minutely.  
  
And _oh_ , Ash suddenly understood what he was doing. Shorter was flirting with Eiji for Ash. Probably not in the most conventional way, but Shorter was anything but conventional. The man literally slid under the table instead of pushing the chair out like a normal person.  
  
Still, the embarrassment and tension seemed to seep from Eiji at the words and he simply rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and bit his lip - maybe it was a nervous thing then? (although how could he have been nervous simply looking at numbers before?) “Is it that obvious I’m gay?” He joked, and Ash was beyond relieved that he wasn’t offended by the question.  
  
But, his bisexual pining mind offered, him being gay meant he had a minutely bigger chance with Eiji. He subtly wiggled in his seat from happiness.  
  
“The rolled up jeans were kind of a giveaway,” Shorter joked back, and Eiji looked down at his jeans (that were definitely rolled up) before laughing once more.  
  
“Would you believe me if I said I only do that because I’m short?” There was a beat of silence, and then they were all laughing. Shorter’s ugly ass laugh was the loudest of all of them, but Ash still managed to hyper focus on Eiji’s. Somehow, the boy managed to make even laughing polite, he hid his smile behind a hand and the noise itself was soft and high pitched. Ash wanted to set it as his ringtone.  
  
“So what is it you actually do, Eiji?” Ash asked, and Shorter shot him a thumbs up for actually beginning a conversation.  
  
“I’m an assistant!” He exclaimed happily, pulling a lanyard out from where it was tucked between his shirt and sweater. “I help with photography for my boss, Ibe.”  
  
Ibe? why did that name sound familiar? Ibe, Ibe, Ibe-  
  
“Shunichi Ibe?” Ash asked, finally pinpointing the name. If it really was the Ibe Ash thought it was, he’d eat his fucking hat.  
  
“Yes!” Eiji confirmed. And shit, Ash didn’t have a hat to eat. “Do you know him?” Eiji tilted his head again, like a little confused puppy. How was this man so fucking cute?  
  
“He’s a friend of my old man,” Ash explained in disbelief.  
  
“Oh! maybe We’ll see each other again sometime after this, then.” Ash could’ve sworn the smile Eiji shot him was bordering on flirty, but Ash genuinely could not process the idea of Eiji flirting with him, so he shut that thought out quickly. “What about you guys, what do you do?”  
  
“I’m a literature major at NYU,” Ash explained, blushing slightly at Eiji’s “ooh, smart!”. He knew he was smart, and people told him that often, but hearing it as a compliment from Eiji’s accented tongue seemed to feel different.  
  
“I co-own a Chinese restaurant with my sister, Nadia,” Shorter said, pride enveloping his words. Ash knew how much he loved his restaurant, it was his pride and joy, and rightfully so - it had some of the best Chow Mein Ash had ever tasted. “It’s in China town, if you ever wanna visit ask Ash and I’m sure he’d be happy to escort you there.” And okay, maybe Shorter was actually good at this ‘flirting-on-behalf-of-your-best-friend’ shit.  
  
“Hm, maybe I will,” Eiji commented, and the smile he shot Ash was undeniably flirty this time. Oh god, was Eiji flirting with him? Oh _god_. “Although I’ll need your number for that.” And now Eiji was looking directly at him, an eyebrow raised in a silent question. Where was this shy boy from 20 minutes ago? This Eiji was almost too powerful for Ash.  
  
“Oh, yeah, course.” Ash’s tongue felt too heavy in his mouth, and the words came out clipped, much to Shorter’s amusement. With sweaty palms, Ash accepted the phone Eiji was holding out for him. He typed in his number carefully, triple checking to make sure it was definitely accurate, before handing it back. Eiji shot him a small, pleased smile before pocketing the device.  
  
“Hello?” The crackling voice from before sounded over the speaker, making them all jump at the sudden noise before hastily standing up.  
  
“Yes, hello,” Shorter replied, pressing the microphone button once more as he was closest.  
  
“Help will be with you in about 5 minutes, they’re just heading up to you guys now.” The line abruptly cut once more, but a collective breath was let out between them.  
  
“At least we weren’t in here for too long!” Eiji said, his optimism drowning out Ash and Shorter’s pessimistic “Thank fuck”s.  
  
Luckily, help came in the form of technicians managing to fix the problem with wires and switches, not firefighters having to lug them of the elevator in an extremely undignified manner, and before they knew it the lift began moving once more.  
  
The elevator seemed to move quicker than before, and they were on the 18th floor before long. Before the door could chime, Eiji bent over to grab a bag that Ash didn’t even realise he had in the first place, the denim of his jeans stretching over muscular thighs and _Jesus Christ_ he had a nice ass (yet another tick on the ideal partner list). He barely managed to drag his eyes away by the time Eiji was standing up once more, flinging the bag over one shoulder and pushing his hair out of his face.  
  
The doors finally chimed and Eiji was the first to leave, casting a parting wave and a grin over his shoulder before rushing out of the elevator as quickly as possible (probably still nervous about his boss’ reaction to him being late). It took a moment for Ash’s legs to finally work, his mind still reeling over the image of Eiji bending over, and he had to be practically dragged from the elevator and towards Max’s office before the doors shut him in once more.  
  
“What took you guys so long?” Max asked the second they entered his office, already halfway through his ham and cheese sandwich. “I was starting to worry.”  
  
“We got stuck in a lift,” Ash explained easily.  
  
At the same time, and louder, Shorter said, “Ash met the love of his life.”  
  
Max’s eyebrows rose in shock and Ash slammed his fist into Shorters stomach, causing him to bend over and wheeze out several coughs at the impact.  
  
“Explain,” Max commanded simply, but Ash just slumped into a spare chair and grabbed at one of Max’s sandwiches, chewing aggressively and determined not to speak.  
  
But that was okay, Shorter seemed more than happy to rattle off the details of the last half an hour, exaggerating certain parts because Shorter could never tell a story normally. Ash just grabbed more of Max’s sandwiches, reaching for his phone casually as it chimed from his back pocket.  
  
_’Hi it’s Eiji Okumura! I liked the sound of Shorter’s offer earlier, pick me up at 8 this Saturday? I’ll send my address if you’re up for it ;)’_  
  
Ash promptly slammed his head into Max’s mahogany desk.

**Author's Note:**

> Ash Lynx having a bisexual panic over Eiji is always my favourite trope. That boy is beautiful so I understand completely.  
> I have some other Banana Fish fanfictions if you want to check them out!  
> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated <3


End file.
